This invention relates to a hand-operated home knitting machine, and more particularly to a needle selection mechanism in a hand-operated knitting machine in which needle selection is controlled in accordance with a patterning or needle selection program prepared therefor.
Hand-operated knitting machines on which a knitted fabric having a desired design pattern thereon can be produced are normally provided with needle selection functions which are controlled in accordance with a patterning or needle selection program prepared therefor. Conventionally, a perforated or punched program card or sheet carries a needle selection program in the form of punched holes formed in rows and columns therein. A program reading device which is mounted alongside the needle bed of the knitting machine and has a set of feeler elements reads a row of punched holes of the program card or sheet, and during a sliding movement of the carriage on the needle bed a needle selector member on the carriage selects knitting needles in the needle bed in accordance with the readings of the program by the program reading device. Since such readings of the needle selection program are mechanically transmitted to the needle selector member and the needle selector member mechanically engages with the butts of knitting needles for their selection, considerable noises are produced by the associated parts of the machine. Taking it into consideration that hand-operated home knitting machines are typically used indoors by housewives or young women, it is always required for a hand-operated knitting machine to have, at least, minimized production of noises caused thereby.